Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a catalyst composition comprising at least one precious metal and at least one mixed oxide comprising zirconium dioxide and silicon dioxide. Furthermore, its preparation and its use are a subject-matter of the invention. Moreover, a process for producing ketones and a process for the synthesis of lactams are claimed.
Discussion of the Background
The patent application EP-A-2772478 (US 2014/0249331) describes a process for producing a ketone from an epoxide using a mixture comprising at least one precious metal and at least one metal oxide as catalyst system, where the metal oxide comprises zirconium dioxide. Using pure zirconium dioxide as metal oxide, the epoxycyclododecane was able to be converted to cyclododecanone with yields of up to more than 96%.
Although this process provides the ketone in high selectivity, considerable amounts of catalyst, long reaction times and high temperatures are required, which has an adverse cost effect on any industrial process.